§ 3001. FINDINGS.

(a) With San Francisco’s strong green building codes, the City has some of the most energy-efficient new buildings in the nation. However, San Francisco is also one of the oldest urban areas in California and many of its buildings were built before energy efficiency codes were enacted. San Francisco’s older building stock uses electricity partially supplied by fossil-fuel burning power plants and heat that is primarily supplied by the combustion of natural gas – both of which emit carbon dioxide, one of several pollutants that contribute to global warming.

(b) The City’s Existing Commercial Buildings Task Force, established in 2009, recommended systematically identifying all cost-effective opportunities to improve the energy efficiency of commercial buildings citywide. In 2011, Chapter 20 of the Environment Code was enacted to require owners of nonresidential buildings over a certain size to conduct Energy Efficiency Audits of their properties and file Annual Energy Benchmark Summaries for their buildings.

(c) In 2011 the Mayor convened a Renewable Energy Task Force to develop recommendations to help San Francisco achieve its goal of 100% renewable electricity supply by 2020. The City’s completed 2017 community-wide inventory of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions found that the buildings sector is responsible for 42% of emissions, second only to transportation.

(d) As reported in the City’s 2017 San Francisco Emissions Inventory, San Francisco’s emissions in 2017 were 36% below 1990 levels, well ahead of the statewide goal set in California’s Assembly Bill 32 of achieving 1990 emissions levels by 2020. In 2008, the City enacted Chapter 9 of the Environment Code, which set additional GHG emissions reduction targets of 40% below 1990 levels by 2025 and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. The City’s efforts to reduce GHG emissions have focused on using less energy, improved efficiency, and energy recovery as well as de-carbonizing the energy supply by replacing fossil fuels sources with renewable energy sources – micro-hydro, wind, geothermal, solar, wave, and biomass.

(e) Chapter 9 of the Environment Code requires a GHG emissions reduction plan for the City, mandates that City departments take certain steps to reduce the City’s GHG emissions, and requires City departments to submit annual reports to the Department of the Environment. As of 2017, just under 3% of San Francisco’s GHG emissions were generated by energy consumed in municipal government buildings and fleet vehicles. Moving to 100% renewable electricity in the private sector is a significant step the City can take to continue reducing GHG emissions and meet Climate Action Strategy goals.

(Added by Ord. , File No. 190708, App. 10/4/2019, Eff. 11/4/2019)